Expert: ACTA No Longer Gutting Internet Freedom

The United States is caving on the internet section of a proposed international intellectual-property treaty, meaning its one-time quest to globally dictate draconian copyright rules has come to an abrupt halt.

“If you’re a Wired U.S. reader, from an internet perspective, this really doesn’t change much of anything,” Geist said in a telephone interview.

At one point, the United States was demanding the nine negotiating nations and the European Union adopt rules similar to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which gives internet service providers immunity from copyright violations if they take down content at the request of a rights holder. In Canada, where Geist teaches, there is no such takedown requirement.

Another part of the DMCA makes it illegal to traffic in tools to circumvent Digital Rights Management. Language in the text does not make this a mandatory, global requirement.

Another scuttled provision would have required ISPs to discontinue internet access to repeat copyright offenders. The watered-down version requires “cooperation” between ISPs and content owners.

“There are no new strict legal requirements for telcos,” he said.

And the United States’ quest for a global ban on camcorders in movie theaters is also out the window.

Negotiating entities include Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United States and the European Union. At one point, the Obama administration called the draft’s text a “national security” issue. The European Union was one of the staunchest opponents of the United States’ internet proposals.